Whilst il plaisantait would mean he was joking, il me taquinait would be able to convey the idea that he was joking with me.

I would use one of:

Il me faisait marcher

or, closer to “fucking with me”

Il se foutait de moi

You could say : Il ne faisait que plaisanter avec moi.

Although the first two meanings of the reflexive verb “(se) moquer (de quelqu’un)” involve:

1) “ridiculing someone or something ” and

2)“dismissing the value of someone/thing,

its third meaning (Tromper ou essayer de tromper quelqu’un, quelque chose avec désinvolture = To/try to deceive/mislead/trick/fool someone/thing in a casual manner) might offer a more polite alternative to the idea conveyed by “Il se foutait de moi” =

“Il se moquait de moi”

Il se jouait de moi

se jouer

Ne pas se laisser arrêter par quelque chose ou n’en faire aucun cas : Se jouer des lois, des difficultés.

Littéraire. Tromper quelqu’un, abuser de sa confiance ou de sa naïveté, le rendre ridicule : Je vous dis qu’il s’est joué de nous !

Jouer implies playing and/or tricking.

If you really want to point out that someone try to make you believe something, you can use :

• “mettre en boite” (somewhat informal)
• “faire marcher” (somewhat informal)
• “mener en bateau“
• “se jouer de“
• “berner” : could apply, but does not always conveys the fact that it is fun
• “bluffer” (yes, it is used in french)

The following proposals dismiss the fact that someone tries to make you believe a story, and only consider that someone makes fun of you, but beware of some differences :

• “plaisanter avec quelqu’un” means “joking with someone” (not mocking him/her)
• “plaisanter quelqu’un” means “making fun from someone”, always in a friendly way
• “se moquer de quelqu’un” means “making fun from someone”, not always in a friendly way
• “moquer quelqu’un/quelque chose” means “making fun from someone/something”, not in a friendly way.
• “se foutre de quelqu’un” (slang) can be friendly or not.

Il m’a plaisanté pour observer ma réaction.